The NFL has a process for allocating compensatory NFL Draft picks when players leave teams during free agency, but the process is so complex that sometimes mistakes are made. That was the case this year for the Buffalo Bills, and they were not very happy about it.
The Buffalo Bills expected to receive a third-round compensatory draft pick for losing Tremaine Edmunds in free agency, but the league only awarded them a fourth-round pick. The San Francisco 49ers were in a similar situation, getting a fourth-round pick instead of a third-round pick after losing Jimmy Garoppolo. And Bills general manager Brandon Beane thinks that both teams got “a raw deal” from the league.
“It did surprise me. I think us and San Francisco, we got a raw deal,” Beane said according to Pro Football Talk. “We had separate Zooms with the league trying to go through how it was calculated, because by even their accounts, as we were checking with them through the year, we clearly had a third-rounder.”
Beane described the decision as “a major blow” to the team as it planned its moves for the draft.
“It was a major blow because we had planned for that and I know San Fran felt the same way,” Beane said. “We did our best, and they said no deal.”
